Teacher Training in the Observational Sciences at the George Observatory and at Rice University

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"Teacher Training in the Observational Sciences at the George Observatory" is a comprehensive three-year program to teach twenty teachers per year techniques actually used in research in the physical and ecological sciences. This program will them experiences that present science as a process rather than a collection of facts. The Observatory, situated at Brazos Bend State Park, is an ideal site for both astronomical and ecological study, with a 36' telescope in the Research Dome, smaller telescopes in the East and West Domes, a heliostat (solar observatory), and an ecology laboratory to study flora, fauna and environmental conditions on the 5000-acre park site. The teachers will participate, in pairs, in ongoing research programs guided by a research mentor (faculty members or professional scientists at Rice University, the Houston Museum of Natural Science, or other Houston institutions). The first week will comprise lectures by each mentor to the entire group, presenting science background and outlining research techniques that are used both in general and for the specific research project. The teachers (working in pairs) can then make an educated choice of which project to work on. Assigned to each project will be a Research Assistant, who will accompany each pair of teachers at all times during the data gathering phase of the research (60 hours, spread over a maximum of seven weeks) and will be responsible for the safe operation of all equipment. In addition, a student programmer will work with each pair of teachers to create a customized research database most compatible with the teachers' computers at their home schools. In this way, the teachers can continue to add to their own databases with their own pupils adding new data each year, either at local sites or as field trips to the Observatory. Participants in the program may earn three semester hours of graduate credit. The program begins in the summer of 1990. The research projects include galactic and stellar astronomy, nebular astrophotography, solar observation, light and air pollution studies, acid rain studies, population studies of both plants and animals, weather observations, tree growth observations, etc. The teachers will be required to write up a report covering the techniques used and results found. Each teacher will take home with them videotapes of all ten lectures plus copies of all ten reports, so that the teachers can replicate with their school classes any of the ten research projects. In this way the transference to the classroom is maximized. Cost sharing in the amount of $46,773 equals 15% of the NSF award.